Green Against Green – The Irish Civil War

Michael Hopkinson’s Green Against Green is the definitive study of the Irish civil war, putting in perspective a bitter and passionate conflict, the legacy of which still divides Irish society today. Widely praised and frequently cited as the most authoritative work on the subject, it continues to hold its place as one of the finest works on modern Irish history.

Unlike the Easter Rising and the War of Independence, the Irish Civil War has been largely overlooked by historians, put off by the messy divisions between former War of Independence allies and its continued importance in modern Irish society: even now, the rival parties in the conflict form the basis for two of the largest political parties in Ireland.

In Green Against Green, Michael Hopkinson addresses this gap in Irish historical writing, looking closely at the reasons for the outbreak of civil war, the major figures who directed it, how it was fought and its impact across Ireland. This major achievement of historical scholarship traces the history and course of the war from 1912 to its conclusion, starting with a sketch of the background to the divisions which surfaced during the war and continuing through to the functioning of the post-civil war Irish State.

This groundbreaking work, ‘a dispassionate account of the most passionate times’ (Irish Times), captures the confused loyalties and localised, often personal, violence that characterised one of the most critical, and least studied, formative events in modern Irish history.